


Comfort

by AutisticWriter



Series: Cuddles [7]
Category: Yonderland (TV)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, F/M, Fear, Friendship, Ho-Tan is Trans, Hugs, One Shot, Prompt Fill, Slurs, Swearing, Trains, Trans Character, Trans Female Character, Transmisogyny, Transphobia, VexTan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-12
Updated: 2017-09-12
Packaged: 2018-12-27 02:46:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12072033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AutisticWriter/pseuds/AutisticWriter
Summary: Debbie takes the Elders on a day trip to London. But on their return journey, things don’t go to plan.Cuddle number 7: For comfort





	Comfort

Their day trip to London has been very fun (if a bit chaotic), but it’s time to go back to Debbie’s house – and then back through the portal. All dressed in clothes considered normal in Debbie’s world (Ho-Tan was particularly happy with the skirt and jumper Debbie gave her this morning), the Elders follow Debbie through the busy train station and out onto the platform.

Debbie takes the tickets out of her handbag (for some reason, she didn’t trust the Elders to look after the train tickets) and sits down on a bench. Flowers and Pressley join her, looking like they might both fall asleep at any minute, and Vex and Ho-Tan stand nearby, holding hands and reading all of the notices and posters on the walls.

Ho-Tan has just finished reading a poster about not leaving bags unattended on the train (everyone seems to worry about things a lot more in Debbie’s world) when she realises that she needs to use the toilet.

“Excuse me a minute,” she says, smiling awkwardly.

“Don’t get lost,” Debbie says without looking up from counting the tickets.

“Honestly, Debbie, we aren’t children,” Flowers says, and Debbie scoffs.

As they all start bickering about maturity, Ho-Tan slips away and follows the signs to the toilet. She finds herself staring at two doors, one saying **men** and the other saying **women**. Remembering that everyone in Debbie’s world follows a strict (and rather pointless) gender binary, Ho-Tan realises that men and women are expected to go into different rooms to use the toilet (although she has no idea what nonbinary people are supposed to do). So she picks the door that says **women** and, pushing the heavy door, enters the women’s toilets.

It smells strongly of cleaning chemicals, and the wall is covered with smeary mirrors. Ho-Tan spots the row of cubicles and heads towards the nearest one. But then a woman finishes washing her hands and turns to leave the room – and she looks at Ho-Tan and her eyes widen.

“What are you doing in here?” she says, and there is something oddly threatening about the tone of her voice.

“I need to use the toilet,” Ho-Tan says, smiling. “Is there a problem?”

“Well, yeah, there is, actually,” the woman says, and she walks towards Ho-Tan. “’Cause you’re in the wrong toilets.”

“But…” Ho-Tan trails off, confused. “Isn’t this the women’s toilets?”

The woman sighs, and she walks closer. “Are you fucking stupid? You’re in the wrong toilets, idiot!”

She doesn’t understand. What has she done wrong? Why is this woman so angry with her?

“But… I don’t…”

“Get out of here!” the woman shouts, and she shoves Ho-Tan’s shoulder.

She stands there, frozen to the spot, helplessly starting at the woman. She doesn’t know what to say or do. She just feels so scared. What is going on?

“Get out, you fucking tranny!”

She shoves her again, harder this time, and Ho-Tan stumbles backwards. The woman looks so threatening, her eyes wide and her face so angry, but Ho-Tan has no idea what she has done. And what is a tranny?

But then the woman moves towards her again, and Ho-Tan just runs, terrified of what might happen if she stays. She races straight out of the toilets, and she doesn’t even know where she is going. And then she runs straight into someone and she tenses up, hoping they won’t shout at her too.

“Ho-Tan?” they say, and Ho-Tan is so relieved to see that it’s only Choop. He stares at her, and he looks confused and worried. “Ho-Tan? Whatever is the matter?”

And Ho-Tan’s breath catches in her throat and she lets out a spluttering sob and she just bursts out crying. She slumps against Choop, sobbing into his shoulder.

“What’s wrong?” he says, but he hugs her tightly and starts to rub her back.

Ho-Tan tries to speak, but she is crying too hard to make any sense. She just leans against Choop, sobbing in her fellow Elder’s arms.

“Come on,” Choop says, his voice very soft, and he slowly steers the pair of them away from the toilets. Ho-Tan keeps her eyes closed, but she can tell that they are going back out onto the platform. And then she hears familiar voices, and knows the others have just noticed them.

“What’s going on?” Flowers says.

“What’s wrong with Ho-Tan?” Pressley says.

“Is she crying?” Debbie says.

“Ho-Tan’s crying!” Vex cries, and then there are footsteps and they all rush over.

Ho-Tan pulls away from Choop, only to immediately be hugged by Vex. He runs his fingers through her hair, carefully leaning Ho-Tan’s head against his shoulder. She sobs as Vex cuddles her, feeling safe in her partner’s arms but not safe enough to calm down and stop crying.

“What happened?” Debbie says, starting to rub Ho-Tan’s back.

“I have no idea,” Choop says, and he sounds distressed. “I was just heading into the toilets and she ran into me and she looked very scared and then started crying. I have no idea what happened.”

“Come and sit down, dear,” Flowers says, and they lead Ho-Tan and Vex to a bench.

They sit down, Vex still cradling her in his arms. Debbie sits on her other side, and the others crowd around, blocking Ho-Tan from the view of any onlookers. And she is very grateful for that, because crying like this is embarrassing enough without a load of strangers staring at her.

“It’s all right, my dear,” Vex says, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “It’s all right. Please don’t cry.”

Ho-Tan tries to not cry, but it’s difficult when all of her emotions seem to be overwhelming her at the same time. But it helps so much to be surrounded by all of her friends, and to be being cuddled in the arms of her wonderful caring boyfriend. She tries her hardest to stop sobbing, but she can’t seem to manage it.

At some point during her crying fit, their train arrives, and so they all have to relocate onto the train. Ho-Tan clings to Vex, and soon they are sat just as they were on the platform, except the seats are padded and they are all squashed much closer together. But Ho-Tan doesn’t care; she just leans against Vex and cries and hopes that the horrible woman isn’t on their train.

Eventually, she stops sobbing, but tears still leak down her face and she feels like she might start crying again at any minute. Debbie hands her a tissue, and Ho-Tan wipes her eyes and blows her nose. Her eyes feel all sore from crying.

“Would you like to tell us what happened, Ho-Tan?” Debbie says.

She really doesn’t want to talk about it – she wants to forget that it ever even happened – but Ho-Tan supposes that talking might help. So she lets out a shuddering sigh and starts to talk, her voice thick from crying.

“A… a woman told me to get out… she shouted at me… she shoved me… she called me… she called me a tranny…”

Debbie gasps, but everyone else looks confused.

“What does…that word mean?” Pressley asks, and his voice comes out a bit wobbly.

Debbie sighs and rubs Ho-Tan’s back. “It’s a really disgusting slur that people use against trans people… people like Ho-Tan. It’s a hateful thing to say to someone. I’m so sorry that happened to you, Ho-Tan.”

She smiles weakly, tears blurring her vision. “It’s all right. I’m just…”

She just isn’t used to this. She wants to go back to Yonderland. Their world may be strange, but at least people aren’t hateful simply because of someone’s gender. Yes, everyone may be odd, but she has never met anyone transphobic in her world. And she wants to go back. She just wants to feel safe again.


End file.
